Lake Shore Limited
| Name | Lake Shore Limited |
|---|---|
| Start | New York |
| End | Chicago |
| Distance | 959 Miles |
| Duration | 20 Hours |
| Creation | 1897 by the New York Central Railroad |
August 13
The voyage has finally begun! I left my apartment in New York this afternoon around 1:30 to take a train to a train. I think I packed pretty lightly for what will be just over two weeks, but in those bags I have food and drinks for the next three days, a comforter and pillow, books and magazine, and a ton of other little things I found to make this journey more enjoyable.
For this section of the trip (NYC to Seattle) I am riding solo as Terri is already on the West Coast with friends, eagerly awaiting my arrival. As I sat sweating in a subway car, Terri was enjoying a bit more space (though similar temperatures!).
This first Amtrak train left from Penn Station in NYC. The new(ish) Moynihan Train Hall is super spacious and bright with many more departure boards. The waiting for the last minute to see which track to go to, and then rushing to get there to find a seat, is the same, it is just prettier now!
I must admit that I forgot how beautiful upstate New York is. Initially, I was thinking that this segment of the trip was just a necessary step to get to Chicago for the real trip to begin. If you’ve ever taken Metro North, however, you know that these tracks are so close to the Hudson River it almost feels like you’re on a boat. (I am sitting on the opposite side of the train from the river as I was planning for potential lake views, though it looks like it might be dark when we pass through there. Alas, I was unable to take a picture of the Hudson and am instead inserting this much better, out-of-body photo to capture the essence!)
Things outside my side of the train were certainly still beautiful. We passed through a number of quaint riverfront towns, over bridges spanning tributaries of the Hudson, and alongside forests and mountains.
Apparently long routes on Amtrak have built-in smoke breaks where we stop at a station for around 45 minutes for smokers to smoke and everyone else to get fresh air (aka take off our masks) and check out the station. This is a welcome surprise as we were a bit worried about the food situation on some of our longer segments. At the beginning of the pandemic Amtrak completed closed their dining cars and instead only offered options to take back to your seat (e.g., pizza, burgers, etc.). The dining cars with traditional dining have since re-opened, but they are currently exclusively for people who have booked rooms (booking a room is an all-inclusive package that includes three meals a day). While we were always planning on buying a to-go dinner before boarding, the prospect of cheese pizza for every subsequent dinner was not something I was looking forward to. With these stops, however, we now may be able to buy an additional to-go dinner after eating the first one. That and we don’t need to bring a gallon of water on with us as we can refill smaller bottles at each stop.
Our first smoke break was in Albany, though the station is outside of the main city so there wasn’t really anything else around. I still got off, got some snacks, and took advantage of the extra space on the train to pull out things I need for sleeping.
Another surprise was hitching on to the train from Boston. The Lake Shore Limited has two starting (or ending) points: New York City and Boston. It didn’t occur to me that these two routes would eventually meet and join together to form one large train for the rest of the trip to Chicago, but that’s what we did!
After joining with the Boston train and leaving Albany, we hit a thunderstorm and the sun set shortly after leaving me with a pitch-black window. I turned my attention to Amtrak: The History and Politics of a National Railroad to learn more about this system I will be on for the foreseeable future!
August 14
I bet you’re wondering how one sleeps on Amtrak during a pandemic. Well, first you turn yourself into a crash test dummy or a large bug (not sure which feels more fitting yet)!
This mask I bought also has Bluetooth headphones built in, so in addition to blocking out light, it also covers my ears and plays soothing soundscapes (naturally I chose “urban rainstorm” to drown out the softer sounds of the train with the louder sounds I am used to). I also brought a pillow and comforter from home since other long distance Amtrakers recommend making your seat feel like as close to your bed as possible. The seats recline more than a typical train seat, and there’s an additional footrest that pops up and continues the recline. While you’re by no means horizontal, you are at least 135 degrees.
I slept ok for this first segment. There were a lot of late-night stops with a major changeover in Cleveland at around 1am. Even with the headphones, it’s hard to ignore people moving around looking for seats if you haven’t completely fallen asleep. On top of that, the train was set to arrive in Chicago on the earlier side, so I got stuck in a spiral of: “ok if I fall asleep now, I can still get x hours of sleep.” On longer rides that won’t be an issue, so hopefully I can sleep better.
I did manage to fall asleep at some point, and woke up to a new seatmate just outside Mayor Pete’s home. I was prepared for this and had a can of espresso ready to go! After that, I “showered” and packed up for Chicago.
After pivoting away from the Hudson, the scenery was … a lot of the same. While beautiful in its own way, complete with harbingers of what’s to come in 2024, it reminded me a lot of my drive home from college in Colorado. Thus, I mostly focused on emails until we crossed a bridge into Chicago.
The train arrived at (and the next will leave from) Union Station. The station is much fancier than even Moynihan Hall at Penn Station (it’s more like Grand Central). It really just underscores the tragedy of the decision to tear down the original Penn Station in the 60s.
Once in Chicago, I first saw as many “touristy” things in the vicinity as I could and then moved on to two special locations.